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Thursday, 23 June 2016

With the EU referendum taking place tonight, should procurement professionals expect a regulation reshuffle?

There are arguments both for and against Brexit, but will there be any significant differences in activities for procurement professional? Some have predicted large scale riots at September’s eWorld (just kidding) but the likeliness is that there will be no real impacts and we will all continue our happy lives as purchasers.

The current EU rules are rational, transparent and fair which aid in efficiency and enable SME’s to compete in public procurement. Therefore there is strong reason to believe that local authorities will continue to adopt these regulations.

“As part of my Business Development role I can be asked to travel across Europe to host team training days. If we leave the EU, crossing borders will become much more time consuming and expensive.”

Lewis:

"An 'out' vote is likely to have little to no effect on the UK's procurement regulations and the issue is highly unlikely to be pursued by policy makers in the immediate months afterwards."

Nick:

“Even if the UK were to exit the EU, the EU Procurement Directives will likely remain in place due to a) if we wish to bid for EU opportunities then we'll have to reciprocate, b) it would be a huge change management programme to amend the rules, c) it would be low down the pecking order as ultimately the rules are designed to achieve transparency and equality, no bad thing.”

Craig:

“From my point of view if we do choose to leave, then at the very least this will cause a small economic shock in the short term which would effect all British businesses. However all UK companies that export to the EU in the future could be damaged as European customers and consumers may view Britain’s action as destruction to the entire EU and refuse to buy British. ”

Anya:

“For our £200bn public sector spend it could mean a total restructuring of directives as we currently follow EU rules for procurement.Would we even bother changing? Pro-Brexit campaigners estimate a saving of £1.6bn a year in Procurement costs if we did.

We'd lose out on EU funding for public sector projects. And we'd lose our say on what happens with the money the EU spends. The EU was formed to build alliance post war. And it seems to be working so far! I don't think we should try to fix something that isn't broken!”

Nic:

“The European Union isn’t perfect, but it does seem like a sensible option in an era of increasing globalisation.”

Alun:

“If we really want change, it needs to come from within, irrelevant of whether we stay in the EU or not. Also with regards to migration, this will be an issue whether we are in or out. We can tackle it better from within. Not forgetting that migration is a net positive to the economy."

So, based on our comments it looks like remain are going to win!

We would love to know your thoughts on the EU referendum - do you predict a change in procurement processes?.. What is your company doing?.. What measures are you taking?

Market Dojo helps procurement professionals negotiate better with our on-demand eSourcing tools. If you’d like to find out more, get in touch or register for free and play around with our software for yourself!